Palmetto Running Company, with two stores in Bluffton and Hilton Head Island, SC, this weekend launched an ambitious charity effort in response to the COVID-19 challenge.

Owner Christian Fyfe and his father, Rob, and sister, Keri Straughn, have established runlocal.org, a non-profit charity fund designed to offer some financial relief to independent run specialty store owners. The site went live over this past weekend.

In an email sent out to its fellow retailers across America last week, Palmetto Running stressed that the running industry, and more specifically locally owned running stores, need their colleagues to come together as a community to support each other, their owners, and their employees through these difficult and unprecedented times. 

That’s where runlocal.org, a non-profit charity fund, comes in.

“With your customers’ help, small independent running stores, just like us, will survive these uncertain times and come back stronger than ever,” Christian Fyfe says. “Even though their doors may currently be closed, we hope to help them remain in business and continue serving their community today and through the future.

Here’s how it works:

At no cost to the store, donations from their customers and friends will provide immediate operating relief. Palmetto Running has collaborated with Run House to create a collection based on their #keeprunning campaign. For every item purchased on runlocal.org, Palmetto Running Company will donate $15 directly to a store.

Items for sale include the Social Distance Running Project T-shirt (Sale Price = $25: $10 cost/$15 donation) and the Run Local Tote Bag (Sale Price = $25: $10 cost/$15 donation).

All Palmetto Running asks stores to do is promote runlocal.org and ask their customers to contribute to their fund. They have even provided digital marketing assets that can be used on all social media and website platforms.